the coverage of this year's main event continues on espn.
i'm struck by phil hellmuth. i really like him as a poker player but he routinely berates people who beat him for being stupid with comments like "i raised preflop and this idiot calls with q/10 off. wtf?", etc.
if everybody playing poker did what they were 'supposed to do' every time, poker wouldn't be nearly as great a game as it is. as a poker player, one of the milestone lessons i learned was that you can't have a poker approach written in stone - you have to learn to adapt to conditions: table conditions; chipstack; position; tournament stage; whatever.
in the bigger picture, poker has changed. there are thousands of maverick, young, somewhat reckless players playing these days and the game has changed. phill hellmuth should know better.
i'd rather be an idiot with your chips than a poker expert with no chips.
alasdair